St. Patty's Day/Sam's Birthday Party

We celebrated my little sister Sam's 12th birthday on St. Patricks day. She is such a sweet Aunt and just wanted her nieces and nephews as her party guests so we went to my mom's for a fun little party.

Samantha with her beautiful blue eyes!

Anna 24 Sam 12. 

Mom and her baby!

The girls sure love their Auntie!

Dressed for St. Patty's Day



Cheese!

My mini me.

My sister Lezlie and her Family.

Another fun day!

Visitors

The first week in March Zach's older brother from Hawaii came into town with his wife and daughter. It was the first time my girls got to meet their Uncle, Auntie and cousin. Zach's Mom and Step-Dad also came in to visit at the same time. We had a very fun week of getting the family together to just play and we also celebrated Uncle Sonny and Zeza's birthday while they were here. I am really sad they live so far away, it was fun getting to know more about them.

 All the guys and Natalie

First picture with all 11 cousins.

Some of the ladies.

Auntie Rochelle, Illi, and Grandma Faye

Using matches for candles...again

So sad to say goodbye, hopefully we will be able to go visit them next time in Hawaii!!

70 Years Young

Uncle John, Aunt Susan, Mom Liza, Grandma Renee, Aunt Lezlie and Uncle Jim

My Grandma turned 70 on March 14th and so my mom and her siblings threw here a huge birthday bash to celebrate. They party had dancing and dinner but the best part was the talent show. All the families were asked to come up with a talent and perform but my mom sisters and I thought that it would be really fun to do a fashion show with styles dating from the year my Grandma was born until now. We collected photographs from the time she was a baby and scanned them in and then started hunting for similar dresses/clothes from each picture. Um...we didn't not really find anything that would work so of course my over achiever for a Mother decided she would make all the styles. It was a huge undertaking considering she still has a full time job. Being the only sister with any sewing capabilities it was up to me to help along with my Aunt Eve who also had a little experience. In just about three weeks my mom sewed 8 complete dresses, one cape, and did a few other modifications on some existing dresses. Whew...what a relief when it was over and the fashion show turned out great, except there are no pictures of it. There is a video and that is it. I am pretty sure my mom is going to get everyone dressed back up for some pictures but until then I just have some pictures of our fun night!

My Mom and Sister Anna

Maile pouted most of the night, too shy to dance and Natalie was deliriously tired and sick, poor baby.

My Grandma and her Sister

The only picture of us, Natalie using her arm as a tissue.

 My girls all dressed up.

Happy Birthday Grandma!  We all love you and are so thankful to have you in our lives!! 

Field Trip

Maile finally had field trip yesterday and I got to go with her class.  I had so much fun hanging out with those cute little kids.  I had six kids in my "green group" and I am pretty sure we had the fun group and I am pretty sure Maile was happy I was there!

Green Group

Happy Maile

Lining Up

I love getting to do stuff like this with my kids!

Red Rock

Last minute today we decided to take the kids up to Red Rock for the first time.  WHAT!!!  I was trying really hard to remember a time that we went up there but I came up with nothing.  Bonnie Springs, Yes.  Spring Mountain Ranch, Yes.  Red Rock, nada.  Pretty sad considering we live about 30 minutes from it.  Anyhow, now that we know how much fun it is for the whole family we will be getting a season pass for the rest of the year.  All the kids did so well even when we were climbing some pretty rocky terrain.  I know we will go back soon, what a great way to spend time together.

Proud Daddy and his kiddies.

The Girls

Zachary was helping all his sisters, such a good brother.

My little troop.

Love this baby!

Climbing under a very tiny waterfall.

Daddy's girl!

Twin Day

Today was twin day at school, lucky for us we got that covered except for Maile who was having a really hard time deciding what to wear.  She didn't want to be a third twin with Lexi and Becca and she was mad that she didn't plan with a classmate to wear the same thing.  Last minute I dressed Natalie up to look as close to Maile as possible and everything was better.  She got her twin even if she wouldn't be in class with her. 

Our real twins, man are we lucky to have gotten our BOGO with these two!

Our Pretend twins who will most likely end up to be best pals considering the bond they will have to contend with having twin sisters. 

As much as I wanted Natalie to be a boy, for Maile's sake I am so happy we were blessed with another girl.

Completely random and unrelated but these outfits sure make me long for my favorite day of the year, July 4th.  Can't wait!

Valentines Day is a great day to show each other how much we LOVE each other and it provides a good excuse to indulge on some serious treats.  The morning started with everyone opening their V-day presents, always fun but I am sure they will figure out my gift giving strategy soon and get sick of getting holiday themed shirts to wear, for now though they love it and are excited for anything Hello Kitty. 

 

We were running pretty late but I was able to get them rounded up for a quick picture before we had to go.

Next it was off to school, Valentine boxes in tow.  I had to make time to snap one more since they were so proud of their boxes!

The aftermath post School Valentines parties.  So much candy can't wait till it is all gone and forgotten!

Zach and I had a babysitter all lined up for a night out but I was so tired by the end of the night we deiced to just stay home and watch movies on our couch. 

 I love that he is OK with changing our plans last minute and I sure am glad that I have so many cuties  to call my Valentines!

January in iPhone Pics

I took actual camera pictures one day this month.  The first.  Thank goodness I pull out my iPhone to take pictures daily so I at least have some recollection of what happened this month. 


This month Alexis lost the very first tooth of all the girls. Boy oh boy was Maile ticked. Daddy offered to loosen one of hers up, she wasn't too keen on that. Alexis on the other hand was thrilled, especially since the tooth fairy pays well for the first tooth! I took this pic of her on a day she stayed home sick, the hair looks lovely!

Speaking of crazy hair, the school actually did something fun for the kids and had a crazy hair day. I like controlled crazy, so this was what we came up with.

Zach and I actually went out for a date night. We ate out and then ended up watching a movie on the couch...party animals I tell ya! It was nice spending time with the hubster and not having to wake up at the crack of dawn to feed kids...thanks Mom for taking the kids!

This month I decided each kid needs some serious one on one time so Maile got to go first and she jogged up the Mountain's Edge hill with me. According to her it was the best day ever...mission accomplished I would say.



Last but not least if you have not been living in a hole that past month you have had to have seen the amazing sunrises and sunsets that we have been blessed with this month. And yes I can now say that I have watched the sunrise for 3 weeks now!

Hope everyone had a happy January!

New Years Eve

Since Zach and I have been together New Years has always been pretty low key, usually getting together with friends and letting the kids run around and play.  This year was no different, our friends brought their kids over, we grilled some food, did some leftover fireworks and sparklers from the 4th of July, had some dessert, did our New Years toast at about 10:45 and Zach and I were sound asleep by midnight.

Are we lame or what!  The party part is fun and we really have been gearing these parties to our young children but the fact that someone calls at midnight and it wakes me up is pretty darn geriatric if you ask me.  There is logic to this, we always are up pretty early on New Years day so we can get out to the mountains in enough time to get decent parking. The extra sleep is good but I am thinking next year we will just have to pull a card from our high school days and skip the sleep for a bit of excitement! We shall see how that works out! Anyhow here are some pics of our knee slapping good time!

Christmas...

...it was here and now its gone, just the way I like it.  I always have so much anticipation for the holiday season and  I love the warm feelings I get during this season, but I always love when it is over . 

Christmas eve we headed to my sisters where we celebrated with a full house of family and friends.  The best part of the evening by far was the food, our traditional Italian spread was delish as usual.
  

By the end of the night my pretty girls were tired and ready to sleep and "Santa" got to work putting together the trampoline. (Never again, might I add)

Christmas day started nice and early.  The girls loved their Santa presents spent the entire morning playing with Daddy on the tramp while Mommy got in a much needed nap.

That afternoon we headed to my Mom's for a huge Christmas dinner.  It was so special getting to spend our first Christmas in my mom's new home. 

The only part about Christmas that was missing was Zachary.  He spent the Holiday with his Mom and her family in California.  He had a good time and didn't mind coming home to a pile of presents to open!

Pretty December Weather

Today we went to the park and it was absolutely beautiful outside.  One reason I can stand living through our extremely hot summers is I know the winter will be mild and we will get to have days like we had today at the park.  I met up with my sister and her kids and we tossed the football, played some soccer and just took in the outside air.  Hopefully the weather stays nice like this for a while so we can go have some more fun at the park!  The pics are from my iPhone so excuse the quality!